March 11 Estonian about Propastop propaganda I mentionedThere are accounts on social media that spread the idea of establishing the “Narva People’s Republic” (NPR).
These are channels on Telegram, VK and TikTok calling for autonomy for the Estonian province of Ida-Viru, which includes Narva, a city on the border of Estonia and Russia, where 85% of the population lives. makeup Russians. Achieving autonomy is necessary precisely to preserve Russian identity in the region, as the anonymous channel managers convince.
They post NPR symbols — a black, green, and white flag, a coat of arms with an eagle, and the national anthem — and military memes. Among them are the “Daily Schedule of the Narva Militia”, which includes the attack on Narva at 9:00, the capture of other cities in the Ida-Viru District at 15:00 and a concert by artist Z and Russian blogger Akim Apachev at 20:00.
“Spreading such ideas in the Estonian information space actually means normalizing the discourse about separating part of the country’s territory and separatism,” Propastop summarizes.
Propastop’s discovery attracted the attention of journalists and politicians
About her books Delphi’s publication is the most popular in the country, and Prime Minister Christine Michel commented on it (His name Russian Information Operation) and Foreign Minister Margos Tsahkna (ConfirmingNarva was and will remain an Estonian city.
Estonian Security Police Board (KAPU) described NPR projected it as a “simple and cheap” media attack aimed at undermining the unity of Estonian society. At the same time, Capo warned that participation in this project “may entail criminal consequences.”
The NPR story went beyond Estonia’s borders — several Russian publications wrote about it, as well as the German tabloid Bild, which is actively covering the Russia-Ukraine war. Source from Estonian intelligence services male Bild The purpose of the campaign around the NPR is not yet clear, but it cannot be ruled out that it aims to prepare a Russian invasion of Estonia – as was the case in Ukraine, where Russia initiated the creation of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics in 2014, and in 2022 started a major war with Ukraine under the pretext of protecting them.
German military expert Carlo Massala male In an interview with Bild newspaper, he said that NATO forces were indeed stationed in Estonia, but not in Narva itself, but about 180 kilometers to the west of it. He pointed out that stationing part of the unit directly in the city would serve as a deterrent against a possible Russian invasion.
There were also those who believed that the hype in the press only created PR for the separatists
Indrik Kessler, Head of the Radio News Editorial Bureau of Estonian Broadcasting Company ERR, He believesthat journalists and politicians in vain paid so much attention to the “Narva People’s Republic”, turning it from a marginal topic into one that is seriously discussed:
Of course, there is an information war going on in the world, and Russia is probably planning special operations every day against Estonia and the rest of the Western world, there is no doubt about that. <...>Initial professionalism is even more necessary to distinguish between garbage and really dangerous things. This time we are dealing with a terrible mistake, the hype of which, thanks to the media and the Prime Minister, has reached tens of thousands of people.
Kessler He replied Propastop’s blog, which he, the media and members of the government, criticized for drawing undue attention to “writing about the so-called ‘people’s republic’,” as he put it. Propastop’s authors state that they disagree with his view:
Such “blind spots” and self-censorship do not work in the modern information society, where any idea sooner or later becomes public knowledge. Silence would put Estonians in a position where they could learn about such narratives by chance, without context, or only after the narrative had already developed into an information attack.
After gaining some fame, the creators of the public around NNR began asking for money
One way or another, after the publication of the Propastop blog and other articles, the number of subscribers to the Telegram channel of “Narva People’s Republic” actually increased. If at the time of preparing the Propastop publication (the blog itself writes about this) there were 60-70 of them, then at the time of preparing the article “Jellyfish” there were already more than 800.
Amid media attention, the channel once again clarified its goals (“We do not support the secession of Narva and Ida-Viru County from Estonia. We support autonomy, or at least equality with the Estonians”) and asked subscribers for donations (“Unfortunately, we are not a Kremlin project”).
Despite the growing popularity of the telegram channel around NPR, the Estonian newspaper Postimees He finishesThat this is “nothing more than a poorly executed information operation.” Journalists came to this conclusion after speaking with channel officials under the guise of NNR supporters. They suggested encouraging others to join the group, as well as printing and distributing flyers. “This cardboard ‘separatism’ is a self-funded project,” Postemis sums up.
It is still unclear who runs the public pages of the Narva People’s Republic. Postimees noticed that the NNR group was on VK. There is a channel on Telegram with the same name, posts dedicated to the war between Russia and Ukraine and nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Posts mention St. Petersburg. The channel is anonymous, but the first few posts indicate the authorship – Ilya Boykov. However, Postimees did not specify who this person was and whether he was connected to the “Narva People’s Republic” crowd.
But the newspaper notes that this is not the first project for “persecuted Russian speakers” in the Baltic states. In 2024, a channel belonging to the “People’s Republic of Latgale” was discovered on Telegram. Its creators called for the annexation of Latvia’s Eastern Latgale region to Russia. Edition “like this” I found outIt was administered from Russia and Belarus. Now the channel has been renamed, all subscribers have been deleted, and posts have been deleted.
In Narva itself, the idea of autonomy is viewed with suspicion
This idea is not new. In 1993, city authorities Try Holding a referendum on whether Narva should obtain autonomous status within Estonia. The initiator was the Chairman of the Narva City Council Vladimir Chuykin. As a Russian citizen, he can no longer run for election in Estonia. The main conditions for the referendum were not only the restriction of the political rights of the Russian-speaking population, but also the economic difficulties of the first post-Soviet years.
The referendum was held in July 1993. According to the local government of Narva, 54% of eligible voters participated, and 97% of them supported autonomy. A similar vote was held in Silamai, another city in Ida-Viru District. The participation rate there was 60%, and the percentage of support for autonomy was 98.6%. However, the Supreme Court of Estonia declared the referendum illegal.
Indrik Tarand, who was the special representative of the Estonian government in Narva during the referendum, said directly that nothing came of this project only because there were no Russian troops immediately, and Russia itself was at that time absorbed in internal political strife.
In Narva today, the idea of a “people’s republic” is viewed with suspicion, as a Delphi video poll shows. Sold out On the city streets. One of its participants said: “It is now unrealistic that we can live normally as a separate country.” “We will be like in Transnistria, neither here nor here,” the second noted.